Signed steel beams 'top off' L.A. home for space shuttle Endeavour

Two construction workers pose on steel beams atop a building in a sunny city.

The new home of NASA's retired space shuttle Endeavour has reached new heights, and the California Science Center is celebrating with a "topping off" ceremony.

Now just over a year since the science center began stacking the solid rocket boosters that went on to form the world's only vertical, launchpad-like exhibit of a winged orbiter, the new Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center is ready for its highest installed parts. On Thursday (Oct. 10), three steel beams were raised nearly 200 feet (61 m) above the ground to crown the building's diagrid structure.

"It is a significant milestone for the science center and for those we serve," said Jeffrey Rudolph, president and CEO of the California Science Center, in an interview with collectSPACE.com. "It keeps us on track to complete construction of the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center by the middle of next year."

Aerial view of the diagrid steel tower surrounding the space shuttle Endeavour (itself enveloped by scaffolding and white protective covers) at the construction site of the California Science Center's new Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center in Los Angeles. (Image credit: California Science Center)